The Workplace Blog

Feedback on the Corporate Intranet Best Practices Report continues to pour in. Most recently, the report was featured on the Intranet Journal, Usable Markets, Podcasting News, Mass High Tech and in Newsday. The maturity framework appears to be resonating with intranet managers and consultants alike. Please send us your thoughts on how we can improve it further.

If you are interested in learning more about the themes discussed in the best practices report, consider attending the KM World & Intranets conference this fall. This year’s conference will be focusing on web 2.0 trends.

The promise of wikis within the enterprise has been much touted. For example take a look at this (“Hands On: Why you need a wiki”) article.

There are at least two areas worth mentioning that might still be needed however: One has to do with search (cf. Seth Godin’s recent post) and the other has to do with strategy integration. (cf. Mike Yamamoto’s article)

We’ve already seen how wikis have improved in their user interface (i.e. see article on JotSpot). Endeca’s recently patented Guided Navigation search engine might (arguably) help wikis reach their promise within the enterprise. (see Forrester’s Vendor Report excerpt of the fee-based article).

The June issue of Business Finance Magazine offers sound advice in the inherent challenges of adopting executive dashboards. Specifically, resistance is to be expected as familiar comfort zones of managers get disrupted. “Unfortunately, project leaders often focus only on the technology side of the equation. They may buy the latest, greatest product without regard to how the tool will be used or whether the organization is ready for it”, the author wrote.

This harks back to The Intranet Maturity Framework developed by Avenue A | Razorfish, where intranets are evaluated across 8 dimensions through 6 stages. In a specific example given in Business Finance Magazine, communication about the initiative was recognized as the critical success factor. The dashboard should be presented as an enabler for meeting specific goals, empowering managerial leadership and ownership. The balanced scorecard was aptly recommended to give a holistic assessment measure. The user-centered approach to dashboard designs makes the learning process easy for managers. “More challenging than mastering the software… was ramping up their ability to handle their new responsibilities”, the article concluded.

“Dashboard Phobia” however, can be overcome. Some of the recommendations were:
1. Clearly explain how the dashboards will improve an employee’s job
2. Create a team of key stakeholders (usually no more than 5)
3. Give end users a hand; solicit their input in the design process
4. Customize the dashboards
5. Get the dashboard up and running quickly
6. Start small by piloting the dashboard

Pete Stein wrote an article(PDF) early this year on the transformative interaction potential that moves the online experience away from the “page-based paradigm” of the web to “rich interfaces that enable immersive customer experiences”. He cited no less than 5 opportunities, along with corresponding challenges that explore potentials for value creation out of everyday complexities from our decision making processes. A new application just out illustrates such opportunities and challenges.

Schmap, a Windows-based application (its freeware player needs to be installed locally) released 4 months ago, integrates its mapping technology with photos from Flickr, as well as with content partners, WCities and TeleAtlas, for city and map data. It promises to be an immersive brand experience, a delight to users, and an exploration in new paths of navigation, with real-time interactivity as well as a potentially profitable endeavor through its commercial licensing/advertising as well as its upcoming travel store (opportunities cited in Stein’s article; see also remarks from Schmap’s CEO/founder for specifics of the application).

And challenges? The challenges associated with such burgeoning interactive technologies will be critical to its development:

1. User education
2. Tracking behavior
3. Advertising standards
4. Context for content
5. Searchability requirement

Feedback is starting to pour in about our recently launched Corporate Intranet Best Practices Report. The feedback has ranged from the extremely enthusiastic to the disinterested. Some practioners and intranet managers have emphasized that while they are excited about the consumer innovations, they see them being accepted into their organizations at a slightly slower pace than they’d like. The maturity framework has resonated quite strongly with US intranet managers.

A good example is Toby Ward over at Intranet Blog. He likes the maturity framework and the pieces covering social media. However, he is less enthusiastic about my perspective on ROI and the way I approach content. In the report I focus on content in the context of user needs and the user experience only. Please share with us your thoughts. They will help strengthen the thinking and will evolve the framework.

You can download the Corporate Intranets Best Practices report for free from the Enterprise Solutions page. If you like podcasts, we have also published podcast excerpts such as one that discusses trends to steal from the consumer world (MP3).

In the midst of rapid development in technological solutions within the enterprise, it is easy to forget strategic misalignment within managerial control systems. Technology does not solve these problems, nor does it create them. However, it does bring them to the surface often.

Collaborative technology is gaining momentum, and yet, the appropriateness of fit must still be central to its adoption within the enterprise. Here are two issues to consider: First, we must never confuse “collaboration” with “collaborative technology”. Just like the old joke about an 8 year-old in the doctor’s office after breaking his arm. The doctor comforted the boy by saying, “Don’t worry it’ll be just like new after your surgery”. The 8 year-old asked, “Will I be able to play the piano after the surgery?” The doctor replied, “Of course”. Delighted, the child responded, “Great! I never could before, but I’ve always wanted to play the piano!” Collaboration is a learned process that is nurtured over time within an environment that is conducive to it. We can’t assume collaboration will just happen by adopting the latest technology.

Second, we must consider the existing strategic dissonances within managerial control systems. In a recent article (fee based; abstract and preview are free) entitled “How Right Should the Customer be?” the authors uncovered distinctive cultures within sales force control systems of 50 companies from 38 countries. The study revealed that sales force management systems can be oriented along a spectrum towards behavioral control (BC) systems and outcome control (OC) systems. BC systems are oriented towards processes by which results are attained, whereas OC systems are oriented towards the delivery of results. Dissonances come when components of these systems, 8 of them altogether, are sending mixed signals within the organization. One common pattern of inconsistency is dubbed “The Black Hole”. This happens when a salesforce is mostly driven by results, or OC based for 7 out of 8 components; however, its evaluation criteria are not transparent, making it process driven, or BC oriented for this single component. As a result, even though in theory, employee performance was results driven, actual evaluation criteria were not consistent.

The solutions offered in this article pertaining to information systems are of particular relevance here. The differences between OC and BC systems affect how emerging technology should be adopted within the organization. An organization that is dependent upon BC systems must equip large numbers of power managers to design specific strategies particular to salespeople, territories and competition. Furthermore, salespeople within this system have a joint role in marketing and strategy. Therefore, an intranet wiki would fit in this collaborative context. However, in an OC system, salespeople must be given more autonomy, since there are multiple ways to close deals. A wiki used for the aforementioned purpose would create inconsistency. Rather, a wiki can be used in OC systems to empower salespeople by providing a great deal of information for their customers. To use the same technology in mismatched contexts is to create inconsistencies that will create more problems than solve.

The 2006 Corporate Best Practices Report is significant not because a fixed set of outcomes are guaranteed by applying a simplistic formula. Nor is this report absent of any quantitative guidelines. Rather, this guide provides a balanced qualitative-quantitative perspective on the use of intranets in the context of enterprise collaborations. Such an approach, being less of an absolute prognostication and more oriented towards dynamic future direction/expectation is consistent with findings of research over the past 10 years.

In a comprehensive review of research (Fee-based paper; abstract and article information available here) over the past decade on corporate strategic alliances and models of collaboration, authors Todeva and Knoke (2005) set out to 1) explain the formation, implementation and consequences of B2B collaborations, 2) review recent research in the context of globalization, 3) probe into the purposes and motives behind strategic alliances, 4) analyze processes and problems associated with implementation and, 5) provide consequences and future direction.

The overwhelming consensus of this large body of research (more than 90 papers were reviewed) reveals that dynamic interactions, attitudes and needs are not simply reduced merely to doing the right things, adopting the right strategy, and crunching the numbers. The “right answer” at the wrong time is still a wrong answer.

Moreover, “in a survey with high-tech firms, the most significant determinant of knowledge transferability was tacitness”, a knowledge that is deeply rooted and personal, not easily communicated or shared, and involvement based.

I guess a good Scots definition paraphrase of tacit knowledge would be “knowledge that’s ‘more felt than telt’”. The authors, time and time again, remind us that reviewing the research leaves us with “more questions than answers”. That’s not a bad thing, if we know what questions to ask. That’s probably where the 2006 Best Practices Report fits in. Perhaps this report can serve as a springboard for discoveries within the ranks.

John Seely Brown has been known for years to recognize the significance of transforming the enterprise workplace into a place where meaning is shared within “communities of practice”. Within this context, innovation is borne out of emergent communities of learning, improvisation and knowledge formation. At a managerial level, simultaneous reference points provide a sort of continuous triangulation navigation process in the sea of unknowns. Perhaps the 2006 Best Practices Report can help gather the bearings needed.

Fortune Magazine appears to have lost interest in Jack Welch. Well, I’m not completely sure whether they have genuinely lost interest in him or if they are just disappointed that Welch does a column for BusinessWeek. The July 11th, 2006 issue of Fortune discusses the new business rules that are changing Corporate America. The article argues that the Welch rules are dated.

So what are some of these rules? Here are a few:
a. Agile is best; being big can bite you
b. Look out, not in
c. Hire passionate people
d. Hire a courageous CEO

I believe these rules have always mattered. What’s changed is that the companies that have followed these rules have witnessed immense success over the last decade. The technology industry and companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay are prime examples. Ironically, these rules are similar to the values at the heart of any Web 2.0 service.

You know something is a lot more than a fad when you have an international symposium dedicated to it. That’s the case with wikis today. Some of the more interesting research papers from the symposium include Wiki Communities in the Context of Work Processes and Are Wikis Usable?